Hard surfaces made from materials such as concrete are ubiquitous. These surfaces are found in many industrial and home environments. For example, cement and concrete surfaces are found in most industrial shops, garages, sidewalks, and the like. Over time, the appearance of these surfaces degrades due to staining and contamination from the environment.
Decorative coatings for concrete and cement surfaces are known. A type of decorative coating for these applications includes a plurality of colored flakes dispersed in resinous layers. Most prior art coating processes involve applying a resin to the surface and then introducing flakes or flecks (i.e., broadcasting) over the applied layer before it has dried. The coated layer is then over-coated with one or more additional resinous layers to ensure that the flakes are not exposed. Exposure of the flakes leads to an undesirable appearance over time as well as premature failure of the coating. Although this process works reasonably well, the multiple steps necessary for applying such layers make the process complicated and tedious.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and compositions for coating hard surfaces.